The Medium

The Medium presents a significant challenge for the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650. The measured data shows this combination producing a narrow range of frame rates across all tested configurations, placing it in the lower tier of system performance for this title. With a combo rank of 1632 out of 1689 tested configurations, the data indicates that this hardware pairing is positioned near the bottom of the performance spectrum, making settings selection critical for any playable experience.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results reveal a clear hierarchy across the four available quality presets at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 42.3 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset to approach playable frame rates. The Medium preset at this resolution drops to 28 FPS, while High and Ultra yield 19.7 and 17.6 FPS respectively. For responsive gameplay, the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the only viable option, as it provides a 51% performance uplift over the Medium setting at the same resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 36.1 FPS, which remains below the 1920x1080 Low result but represents the best option at this resolution. The Medium preset at 2560x1440 falls to 23.3 FPS, and High drops further to 18.1 FPS. At 3840x2160, even the Low preset only manages 26.9 FPS, with Medium at 16.2 FPS and High at 11.5 FPS. The data strongly suggests that users should prioritize resolution reduction over quality settings, as the performance gap between Low and Medium presets is substantial across all resolutions.

The Ultra preset consistently performs worst in every resolution, yielding 12 FPS at 3840x2160, 15.2 FPS at 2560x1440, and 17.6 FPS at 1920x1080. Given these measured results, the recommended configuration is the Low preset at 1920x1080, which provides the highest average frame rate of 42.3 FPS. This represents the only setting that approaches the threshold for smooth gameplay, though users seeking higher visual fidelity may consider Medium at 1920x1080 if they can tolerate the reduced frame rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 operates with a base clock of 1485 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, paired with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus. The memory runs at 2001 MHz with 8 Gbps effective speed, yielding a bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. These specifications place the GPU in the 43rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 8713. The nearest rival data shows the GTX 1650 trailing the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile by 0.4% and the AMD Radeon 550X by 0.4%, while leading the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 by 0.5%.

The 4 GB VRAM capacity appears to be a limiting factor in The Medium, a game that heavily utilizes memory for its dual-reality rendering technique. The measured frame rates demonstrate that the GPU struggles significantly at higher resolutions, with the 3840x2160 High preset producing just 11.5 FPS. The texture and pixel throughput figures — 53.28 GPixel/s pixel rate and 93.24 GTexel/s texture rate — are insufficient for the demands of this horror title at higher settings. The FP32 performance of 2.984 TFLOPS places the GPU well below the requirements for smooth operation in this game.

The GTX 1650's 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors indicate a power-efficient design, but this comes at the cost of raw performance. The card's DirectX 12 (12_1) support is present, yet the benchmark scores for DirectX 12 (35 in Passmark) and DirectX 11 (58 in Passmark) reveal limited API-level performance. The Vulkan 1.4 support does not appear to translate into playable frame rates, as evidenced by the measured results across all settings and resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X provides substantial processing power with 12 cores and 24 threads, operating at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.80 GHz. The Zen 3 architecture on the 7 nm process node delivers strong single-thread performance, as shown by the 3DMark single-thread score of 941 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4680. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 39453, indicates that processing power is not the bottleneck in this configuration.

The CPU's nearest rivals demonstrate competitive performance: the AMD EPYC 4245P scores 0.2% higher, while the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS scores 0.7% lower, and the Intel Core i7-13700F trails by 0.9%. The multi-threaded capabilities are substantial, with Cinebench R23 multicore reaching 33150 and Passmark multithread scoring 39002. However, these strong CPU results do not translate into high frame rates in The Medium, confirming that the GPU is the primary constraint.

The 64 MB L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provide ample data throughput for game logic and physics calculations. The CPU's boost clock of 4.80 GHz ensures rapid response to single-threaded workloads, which is beneficial for game engine tasks. Yet the measured FPS data shows that even with this powerful processor, the combination only achieves 42.3 FPS at best, reinforcing that the GTX 1650's graphical limitations dominate the overall performance profile.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 5900X and GTX 1650 achieves a rank of 1632 out of 1689 tested configurations in The Medium, placing it in the bottom 3.4% of all system pairings. This ranking reflects the severe GPU bottleneck, as the CPU's 90th percentile performance is undermined by the GPU's 43rd percentile standing. The disparity between these two components is stark: the processor can deliver Cinebench R23 multicore scores of 33150, yet the graphics card's Passmark G3D score of 7880 limits actual gaming performance.

The data shows that this pairing is fundamentally imbalanced for The Medium's requirements. While the CPU ranks near the top of its class, with the nearest rivals all within 1% of its average benchmark score, the GPU sits in the middle of the pack among its peers. The GTX 1650's nearest rivals — the RTX 3050 A Mobile, Radeon 550X, Quadro P2200, and Radeon Pro WX 5100 — all score within 0.5% of each other, indicating that the GPU's performance class is consistently limited for this game.

The combo rank of 1632 suggests that most other tested configurations deliver better performance in The Medium. This positioning is consistent with the measured frame rates, which show that even the best case scenario (Low preset at 1920x1080) produces only 42.3 FPS. Users with this combination should expect a challenging experience in The Medium, with the data indicating that lower resolutions and reduced quality settings are necessary for acceptable performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this hardware combination?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 provides the highest average frame rate of 42.3 FPS, which is the only configuration in the measured data that approaches playable performance.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1650 scores within 0.5% of its nearest rivals, with the RTX 3050 A Mobile and Radeon 550X scoring 0.4% higher, and the Quadro P2200 scoring 0.5% lower.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 5900X the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: No, the CPU's 90th percentile ranking and strong benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 33150, indicate that the processor is not the limiting factor.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 2560x1440 with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS for 2560x1440 Medium is 23.3 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in The Medium?

A: This combination ranks 1632 out of 1689 tested configurations, placing it in the bottom portion of the performance spectrum.

Q: Does the 4 GB VRAM impact performance at higher resolutions?

A: The data shows significant frame rate drops at 3840x2160, with the High preset producing only 11.5 FPS, suggesting that the 4 GB memory capacity is insufficient for this game at high resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 42.3 FPS, which is the highest recorded frame rate in the entire dataset. The Medium preset at this resolution delivers 28 FPS, representing a 33.8% decrease from Low. The High preset produces 19.7 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 17.6 FPS. The performance scaling from Low to Ultra shows a total drop of 58.4%, indicating that quality settings have a substantial impact at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 36.1 FPS, which is 14.7% lower than the same preset at 1920x1080. The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 23.3 FPS, while High produces 18.1 FPS and Ultra drops to 15.2 FPS. The resolution increase from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 results in a 14.7% performance penalty at Low settings, but the penalty grows to 16.8% at Medium and 13.6% at Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 26.9 FPS, which is 36.4% lower than the same preset at 1920x1080. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 delivers 16.2 FPS, High produces 11.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 12 FPS. Interestingly, the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 scores slightly higher than High (12 FPS versus 11.5 FPS), though both are effectively unplayable. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 3840x2160 shows a 55.4% performance drop, similar to the pattern observed at other resolutions.

Across all resolutions, the Low preset consistently provides the best performance, with the 1920x1080 configuration being the only one to exceed 40 FPS. The Medium preset at 1920x1080 (28 FPS) offers a potential compromise between visual quality and performance, though it falls below the 30 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for playable frame rates. The measured data provides no min or max FPS values, so the analysis relies solely on average frame rates to characterize performance.